


All is bright

by herillusion



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Christmas, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-07
Updated: 2016-02-07
Packaged: 2018-05-18 17:33:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,429
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5936947
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/herillusion/pseuds/herillusion
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>One quiet afternoon he found Natasha and Tony in the kitchen making gingerbread cookies in companionable silence. It turned out that Tony might be crap at making omelettes, but had surprising skill when it came to baking if he didn't get distracted and leave them in the oven for too long. Another time it was Clint and Steve in the archery, shooting arrows at targets that were a festive green and red and had a photo of the Red Skull pinned in the middle.</p>
            </blockquote>





	All is bright

**Author's Note:**

> Very belated Christmas fic, oops. Which turned out to be from Bruce's POV..

 "I," Tony announced while Bruce looked on with trepidation, "am going to make this a wonderful Christmas for everyone." Heaven knew where the man had gotten that idea in his head, and Bruce couldn't fault the spirit of it. As for the actual carrying out of his plans, however...

"No, Tony. I'm _not_ going to dress up as Santa Claus and distribute candies to our fellow Avengers."

He'd half thought Tony was kidding at first, at least up till he continued to talk about how there was a wonderful costume shop nearby he'd never visited and then musing about maybe customizing one by himself instead. Resistance was fairly simple, even when Tony gave him those patented puppy eyes – a grown man shouldn't be able to do that so effectively, but he figured that as in all other areas of his life, Tony defied the odds. It was like the giant rabbit situation he'd heard about from Pepper all over again. Except not quite...he might not be 'that kind of doctor' like he'd told Tony, but he had eyes. And he thought he knew Tony well enough by now that he could safely say there was something else behind this. One of his motivations was probably to give this newly established group a memorable experience during the first festive occasion they would spend together. The majority of them had been through crappy childhoods, and even though it wasn't like belated extravagant celebrations could make up for any of it, it was still something to be appreciated. A reminder to look forward to the future and focus on the present instead of dwelling over the past.

If he had to guess, he'd say it had something to do with Steve. Tony's relationship with him was...complicated, to say the least. Even if you left their rocky start out of it, the offhand comments Tony had let slip about his childhood had given Bruce some idea about how much the Captain featured in it. Tony's honest opinion of the man was also hard to determine - sometimes he was disbelieving that the man actually lived up to the morals and ideas his persona presented, other times he was frustrated at how unrealistic and naive trying to live up to them were. It had to be hard for Tony - outwardly successful as the man might be, when you got to know him better, you realised he was oddly insecure and harder on himself than anyone would have expected. You'd think back on flippant responses he'd given you and wonder how much of his behavior was just a front. How much you thought you knew of him was just another part of his act. After all, most people failed to consider that Tony had been raised in the spotlight, exposed to the press since he was a child. 

It was something you'd dismiss as irrelevant - his reputation preceded him most of the time, and the genius who'd created a new element wasn't the one splashed over magazines and papers. But Bruce thought it was a fairly important thing to keep in mind when you were trying to understand who he was and how it defined the relationships he had with the people around him. It was something he wasn't quite sure if the rest of the team had grasped yet - he would have expected Natasha to, but in light of the initial assessment she had made of Tony, Bruce didn't know if she would bother to take a second look now that she had the chance.

Tony seemed to have his heart set on doing something for Christmas whether he consented to play a part or not - and he supposed he should be encouraging any bonding attempts, since it made a change from Tony being focused on his inventions and cooped up in his workshop all the time. Not that he had much room to speak given how much time he spent in the lab himself, but he was well aware how much of a role model he didn't make. He doubted he could dissuade Tony but he reckoned he could at least influence the direction this was taken in. He held out his hands, conciliatory.

"I'm not doing anything that absurd, but yes, we should probably do something to mark the occasion. How about you start out by trying to get to know each of them better first? And I'll do the same. Then maybe by the time Christmas comes around we can have a nice team dinner together that isn't just a group of people who don't have anything to say to each other sitting around a table."

Tony pumped a fist in the air in victory, seemingly satisfied with the outcome even if it hadn't been quite what he'd set out to achieve, and Bruce couldn't help but smile at that enthusiasm. Time to take the first step and show Tony he kept his word. Starting with Natasha was likely his best bet - ironic as that sounded, in light of the awful impression his alter ago must have made with her. That aside, if you started out by mending the large cracks, the smaller ones would go much easier, right? And being a SHIELD agent, she would probably understand the importance of teamwork and how things would go more smoothly out in the field if they got along better when they were off duty too. He doubted any amount of bonding would prevent Tony and Steve from clashing altogether - they were too different for that. But he would settle for a reduction of that and some understanding of each other's viewpoints. Maybe a movie to start off with, where she could get used to his presence first.

He would nudge Tony to start with Clint, since Thor was still off world. He didn't know much about the archer, but he looked like he could use some of Tony's odd brand of affection. A week or so later, he could see that there had been some headway. Clint and Tony were noticeably more comfortable hanging out together - Tony proudly proclaimed ice cream as a crucial factor, and he and Natasha had slowly settled into the habit of watching a movie together once a week. Generally at the nearest cinema, but sometimes they switched it up and ventured a little further for a change in scenery. They ended up having an impromptu movie night one day, when Clint and Tony were sprawled on the couch watching Star Wars and Steve happened to pause while walking through the room. He promptly received an invitation to join the pair, and upon discovering he hadn't watched any of the movies in the series, Tony declared that it was their duty to catch him up on all the years of pop culture and what not he'd missed out on. As for him and Natasha, they'd just come back from one of their outings and Natasha only paused for a moment when they came across the scene before she headed over to Clint's side without hesitation. He took a second to admire the easy friendship they had before joining Steve on the other couch. He could see Steve shooting the trio speculative looks throughout and wondered what Tony made of them, if he even noticed.

It was unspoken, but generally all of them looked upon Steve as their leader. Not just because of his rank, but the only other likely candidate was Tony, who no authority would ever single out as a good choice to keep such a volatile group of people in control. Tony himself didn't seem particularly interested in taking on that kind of responsibility either. In retrospect Steve must have felt fairly odd to be the last to be roped into this dysfunctional group of theirs, but Bruce still stood by his opinion that it had been for the best this way. If Tony had tried with Steve first and failed...no matter how much he would deny it if asked, Tony valued Steve's opinion more than he would ever admit.

And that kind of setback...Bruce wouldn't pretend he understood all of Tony's idiosyncrasies, but he thought it unlikely they would have managed to get to the point they were currently at. It was a fragile dynamic, liable to rupture at any moment if too much pressure was applied to the wrong area. Sometimes it felt like Tony was constantly just waiting for the other shoe to drop - for something catastrophic to happen and for it to tear them apart beyond repair. He watched in caution as Steve deliberated and began making a steady effort to strengthen the glue that tied them together. It seemed that the fact that Tony was the second lodestone of their team was a fact that hadn't been lost on him either. At least he seemed to have set his preconceptions about the sort of man Tony made himself out to be aside, it was unlikely much would have come of it otherwise.

As Steve persisted in spending time in the workshop with him, he saw the way Tony slowly opened up from shooting wary glances at him and generally pretending he wasn't there to Tony gradually feeling comfortable enough to babble at him about some scientific thing or other. Steve brought a sketch pad down and quietly listened to him, occasionally garnering himself some attention from the robots when he contributed what he could. He looked on as Tony blossomed under the attention and actually took into consideration any input Steve gave. He glimpsed the man Tony might have been had he not been consistently shot down by his father and later betrayed by his father figure. Hoped that Steve's actions would bring about a reconciliation between the image of the man Tony had been brought up to love and hate in equal measure and the man he was slowly getting to know better in person now. If he had been religious, he would have prayed to any god that was out there to not let either of them fuck things up.

He wasn't sure how aware of their own feelings either of them were, but it was more apparent to the rest of them onlookers in the way they looked at each other and the little gestures they made. The grateful smile Tony would direct at Steve when he brought him a cup of coffee in the morning, the tender way Tony would drape a blanket over Steve when he fell asleep during movie night. He didn't know Steve well enough to predict how he would react if Tony made the first move, if he was in the closet or accepting of how he looked at different genders even if he'd grown up in the 40s. If he would back away in fear that he was be just yet another notch on Tony's belt, because Bruce was sure that Steve wouldn't be the type to do casual. Whether Tony would be able to communicate clearly that he wanted the same commitment and stability. It all came down to too many factors in the air, too much uncertainty about how things would play out. Which was how most relationships were, he supposed - except this one had a lot more at stake and could potentially put their team dynamic in jeopardy too. It wasn't that he didn't have faith in their professionalism, but there was no coming back from the impact some things could have.

Amidst the relationship Tony and Steve were slowly building, Bruce took Steve gift shopping after a sheepish confession that he didn't go out all that much because he was afraid he'd get lost finding his way back and didn't want to bother any of them to have to pick him up. One quiet afternoon he found Natasha and Tony in the kitchen making gingerbread cookies in companionable silence. It turned out that Tony might be crap at making omelettes, but had surprising skill when it came to baking if he didn't get distracted and leave them in the oven for too long. Another time it was Clint and Steve in the archery, shooting arrows at targets that were a festive green and red and had a photo of the Red Skull pinned in the middle. Next it was Steve and Natasha painting Christmas ornaments, with newspapers spread out in anticipation of any mess, to which Clint declared his disinterest and proceeded to drag him out grocery shopping. With the main aim being to stock up on the ice cream that ran out at an alarming rate, but they ended up getting random decorations like wreaths and sprigs of mistletoe on their way back.

"It's tradition, right?" Clint proclaimed with his arms full, and a slightly manic grin on his face from the sugar high. He'd made Bruce stop at an ice cream shop before they went to the supermarket, claiming store bought ice cream didn't taste quite the same as when it was freshly scooped and served to you on a piping hot waffle. Bruce simply shrugged, and they went back to the tower with arms full of food and Christmas trappings to add on to the ornaments which Steve and Natasha had been making before they left.

Dinner turned out to be a resounding success, but the highlight of the evening was a surprise to all of them except for Natasha, who had a quietly pleased smile on her face as they watched Steve kiss Tony under the mistletoe. They retreated from the room to give the couple some privacy, and Natasha, perhaps sensing Bruce's questioning gaze, explained.

"I talked to Steve and told him he had to either move forward or back off. There was only so long they could hover in that in between zone before something exploded, and I'd rather it be planned than a heat of the moment thing. There's something to be said for spontaneity, but when it came to these two I think they would be too likely to skip any serious discussion afterwards. By letting Steve think things through first, it'll probably make for a steadier foundation and let them feel more secure in each other. I don't want to see them crash and burn anymore than you do."

Bruce stole one last glance at the scene before him before it left his line of sight entirely – it might have been cliche, but seeing how gently Steve held Tony's face between his palms, Bruce could only feel satisfaction that they had found each other at last.


End file.
